The Santa Fe Council on International Relations and the World Affairs Councils of America partner with the Delegation of the European Union to the United States to present Europe Day in Santa Fe, a two-day program to celebrate Europe Day 2014.
All Europe Day program events take place at the Bishop’s Lodge Ranch Resort, 1297 Bishop’s Lodge Road. Europe Day in Santa Fe is a program of the World Affairs Councils of America in partnership with the Delegation of the European Union to the United States.
The program begins with dinner and a movie at 5 p.m. Sunday, which will feature dinner at Bishop’s Lodge accompanied by a film, “Welcome” (released in France in 2009), written and directed by Phillippe Lioret.
Price for the dinner and a movie event is $35 per person.
A panel discussion is scheduled for 10 a.m. Monday. The discussion will address the history, development and current impact of the European Union.
Lunch will be served at noon followed with a talk at 1:30 p.m. by featured speaker H.E. Nuno Brito, the Ambassador of Portugal to the United States.
The price for the Monday’s activities is $50, which includes lunch at Bishop’s Lodge. One may attend all events on both days for a discounted price of $75.
The multi award-winning film Welcome is a compassionate and inspiring drama about the hope of new beginnings and the power of true love.
Seventeen-year-old Bilal has spent the last three months travelling illegally across Europe in an attempt to reunite with his girlfriend Mina who has moved with her family to England.
When he finally reaches Calais, on the far northern coast of France, he can literally see his destination, but with all legal options exhausted, his only option is to learn to swim and make the dangerous crossing himself. This film was awarded the Ecumenical Jury Prize at the Berlin International Film Festival, named Best Film at the 2010 Lumiere Awards and received 10 Cesar nominations including Best Film and Director.
The Monday panel discussion will include Georgios Papanikolaou, consul general of Greece in Houston, Stephan Helgesen, honorary consul of Germany in New Mexico, Edward Herrera, director of the New Mexico Economic Development Department, Office of International Trade and moderated by James Joy, Retired United States Senior Foreign Service officer.
Topics to be addressed by the panel will include:
• The formation of the European Union and the intentions of its members at the time.
• European countries that joined the EU as new members over the years.
• Socioeconomic impact on member nations belonging to the EU.
• Initial trade among EU members and between the EU and US and the long-standing lack of a free trade agreement between these two huge economies.
• Where has trade between the EU and US gone since it formed? Where might it have gone?
• Recent serious economic problems in some EU member countries.
• Recent importance of Germany holding all of its members fiscally solvent and keeping the EU intact.